


Ripples in the River of Time

by Nozomi_Higurashi



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Aerith is an angel who will slay monsters with a smile, BAMF AVALANCHE, BAMF Aerith, BAMF Cloud Strife, BAMF Zack Fair, Cloud Strife Needs a Hug, Cloud Strife gets the love he deserves, Cloud just has that effect, F/M, Freeform, Gen, I'm letting the characters decide, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Everyone, Protective Tifa Lockhart, Protective Zack Fair, Rating May Change, Relationships to be determined, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Time Travel Fix-It, Zack Fair & Cloud Strife Friendship, Zack Fair Lives, or maybe it will
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26027416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nozomi_Higurashi/pseuds/Nozomi_Higurashi
Summary: What to do when the damage is too great for Your Champion and his allies to repair?Send as much knowledge as you can to your younger self so She can make enough ripples along the river of time for your Champion to succeed this time. And take the opportunity You missed Before to create a strong connection to him instead of disregard him as like the others. Seriously, how is he so unassuming that even a Goddess fell for it when he's a Storm?A take on the classic Time Travel Fix It trope I don't think anyone else has done. MINERVA went back.
Relationships: AVALANCHE & Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough & Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart & Cloud Strife, Zack Fair & Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Comments: 47
Kudos: 58





	1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VII Remake, or anything else in the Compilation that would make this too long to list, that honor belongs to Square Enix, I'm just playing in their sandbox.**

***clears throat* Well, I finally got fed up with not having a computer, and now that I have a decent phone, I'm getting back into writing with it. I'm getting back into the saddle with a new story, but I'll be updating my old ones once I get back into the swing of things. It's just easier to ease back into this with something new.**

**Plus, my muses are fawning over Cloud Strife right now. WHAT GAVE HIM THE RIGHT TO BE SO PRETTY, OMG, I'M STILL NOT OVER IT, IT'S BEEN MONTHS SINCE THE REMAKE CAME OUT!**

**Ahem, anyway, on with the story.**

  
  


Green. There was so much green. Had there ever been anything other than green? 

_Golden Champion_

Who? He must have blinked because now the green was replaced by white and there was a beautiful blonde woman in front of him. Did he know Her? He thought he should, She felt familiar, like a distant dream mostly forgotten.

_There you are._ She whispered into his mind like a gentle breeze, a moon-pale hand reaching out to touch his cheek with sunlight warmth. _Ripples in the river of time cannot change the river's current, only change the surface. I ask of you, my Golden Champion, help change the current. You had been so close Before, with My aid, you will succeed this time._

He didn't know how he could change something so big, but he wouldn't ignore a plea for help. She smiled. 

_I believe changing a single fate shall be a large enough starting point. Save your Guardian Wolf, and he shall aid you where he had been unable to Before. I will ensure you recover faster from the Demented having poisoned you with My blood._

The Goddess vanished from his awareness, taking the white and green with her as everything went black. 

* * *

Cloud woke up to explosions and the feeling of being carried. 

"Don't worry, Spike, I'm not going to let them get you again, this ends here." 

"Z-Zack?" 

***grinning* Yup, that'll do for now, I'll get to work on Chapter One soon, that's a good place to end the prologue.**


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for Cloud's anxiety, survivor's guilt, and mild panic attack. Just to be safe.

**The muses are on a roll, so I decided against being evil and am posting this now that I just finished it.**

Everything was so heavy. Why was it so hard to move, and why were there explosions? Last thing he remembered… 

_Fire, screaming, MOM DEAD, everyone dead, Tifa, TIFA'S HURT, he couldn't break his promise, wouldn't break his promise. Sephiroth, Zack, J-E-N-O-V-A, ZACK'S HURT, "Cloud, finish him off", pain, determination, Sephiroth falling, dragging himself to Zack, Tifa missing, Hojo._

_Pain. Cutting, burning, drowning in green. Lost in the green._

_"Hang in there, Spike."_

_Drowning in green, but not pain. Warm hands, gentle hands, caring for his broken body, healing what they could. Familiar blue-violet eyes filled with worry and determination before green took everything again._

_Green becomes white. A Goddess, asking for help. Can't remember, he's useless, can't help anyone -_

**_Enough of that. Give the Guardian Wolf the Down of the Phoenix he placed under your shoulder pauldron. That is your current task._ **

That's it? Oh. That's easy. 

"Z-Zack?" 

"Spike? Oh man, Cloudy, what a time for you to wake up, man. Stay here, I'll be back, just gotta take care of this."

A warm, familiar hand ruffled his hair before Zack ( _Guardian Wolf, help change his fate before it's too late_ ) stood up to head off the battalion in the way. Cloud managed to get a too-heavy hand to move and weakly grasped Zack's pant leg. 

"W-Wait." 

"Cloud, I need to clear the w-" 

Half-numb fingers had managed to tug the Phoenix Down the Voice had told him about out enough to catch Zack's attention. 

"T-aaake-" Dammit, why was he so weak. He could barely talk and now his voice had failed him entirely. He was useless, how could anyone, even that Voice believe Cloud could make a even a small difference. Gentle, sword-calloused hands grasped his before one finished tugging the Phoenix Down loose to tuck under the SOLDIER's own pauldron. 

"Good thinking, I'll be back soon, Cloudy, just stay there and focus on pulling yourself together. You've been… Sick for a while now, I'm glad you're starting to feel better." 

Sick? Cloud had been sick? Must've been really bad to have him this messed up. Guess that explained the weakness and too-fuzzy head. He needed to get better. He couldn't keep letting Zack run himself into the ground, he needed to help. 

Green was beginning to creep up on him again. Cloud fought it, refusing to fall back under its haze. There were more explosions, gunfire, shouting. 

"As a SOLDIER!" Zack was fighting, that was the end of the chant he always did to focus, Zack was fighting, he was alone against too many enemies, _Zack was going to die while sat here useless, he was useless, why,_ **_why, WHY?_ **

Silence. Cloud struggled to move, attempting to crawl towards where the battle had been, he needed to see Zack was alive, he needed his best friend, his anchor, his ( _Guardian Wolf_ ) brother to be alive, he'll shatter if Zack died while Cloud did nothing to help (useless, useless, you're a waste of space, Mom wouldn't have been an outcast if she hadn't had you, WHY did she die when you lived). 

Footsteps. One foot was dragging, and something was stabbing the ground with every step, being used as a crutch. 

"Hey, Cloud. You see that?" 

Zack. Cloud tried to move, but the relief sapped the last of his strength, and the black was creeping up on him. At least it wasn't green. He was tired of drowning in green. 

Just before everything faded, this time into the black he was falling into, Cloud heard a welcome, if exhausted, voice. 

"Almost there, Cloud, we're almost there." 

Cloud let himself fall into unconsciousness. Everything would work out with Zack still standing proud and strong. He… Didn't fail.

( ~~Maybe he wasn't so useless after all…~~ )

**… Well. That was actually unexpected. I didn't think I'd be writing that from Cloud's perspective, but… And, yes, that was basically the end scene of the Remake because… Actually do I even need a reason other than its THAT SCENE AT THE END OF THE REMAKE?**

**But poor Cloud, everyone, give him hugs and love, the poor boy needs it.**

**Jessie: *grinning and gearing up to flirt***

**DON'T MAKE ME SPRAY YOU WITH THE WATER BOTTLE, THAT'S NOT GOING TO BE HELPFUL RIGHT NOW! Friend first, flirt later!**


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for implied very temporary character death.

***cracks knuckles* Let's get this party started.**

Warm. He was warm and laying on something soft. Not on the hard, too-hot, sun-baked ground outside Midgar. This was nice, it'd been a long time since he'd woken up to laying on something warm and soft and comfortable. 

The fact that there was still a familiar weight against his chest as he woke, meaning they hadn't been captured and he really was somewhere (relatively) safe helped him not immediately be on guard from the unfamiliar comfort. Soft, even breaths puffed against the hollow of his clavicle, further reassuring him that Cloud was still with him. 

Zack opened his eyes to see he was in a basement of some sort. There was a makeshift training area in the corner, with a boxing ring, a handful of punching bags that had gotten a real workout (he noticed one had to be patched up again, there was a small tear slowly leaking sand), and various bits and bobs he recognized as makeshift weights/practice weapons. Zack and Cloud were on a lumpy old couch (still the most comfortable thing he'd had in literal  _ years _ if that letter was to be believed - he was trying not to focus on that right now), Cloud was laying on top of him, similar to how Zack made sure to arrange them every night so he could hear and feel his comatose friend (brother, anchor) was still alive. Only difference was, Zack would have a hard time quickly flipping them over to shield Cloud if something attacked thanks to the blanket tucked snugly around them. 

There was an actual pillow under his head too. 

A noise like grinding gears in the far corner drew his attention, but the sense that he and Cloud were  _ finally  _ safe didn't fade, and Zack couldn't bring himself to feel wary. A familiar carmine-eyed woman stepped off what looked like a service elevator, and what little tension he did have relaxed. 

"Tifa. Cloud'll be happy to hear you're alive once he wakes up." 

Zack received a thin smile that confused him until Tifa said, "So you've told me."

Well shit. Considering he didn't remember much between the end of that fight and waking up here, that probably meant he was recovering from a bad concussion. Zack quickly checked under his pauldron to find there was just ash where the Phoenix Down had been. He swallowed heavily at the realization. 

"I think I'll be able to remember this time," he stated, showing the ash from the used up Phoenix Down on his finger tips. Tifa's eyes widened, and relief seemed to make her deflate somewhat, like she was finally allowing herself to process the fear now that the danger was passed. Zack looked down at the still-sleeping blond (truly sleeping this time, not comatose) gratitude and amazement battling for dominance in his chest. "Thanks, Spike, you remembering that saved my life." 

"Zack?" Blue-violet mako eyes turned back to ruby. "What happened?" 

Bitter laughter. "A lot. Let's just say, I'm not a naive Puppy anymore, and Shinra's gonna find out what happens when you betray a Wolf." 

* * *

  
  
  


Tifa stepped off the elevator, pinball machine sliding back into place behind her to see the rest of the AVALANCHE cell she was a part of waiting for her. 

"Well? Those Shinra mutts ready to be kicked out yet?" Barret demanded. Tifa smiled. It was cold and angry. 

"Nope. Zack's no tame dog, and Shinra managed to piss off the wolf they mistook for one. He said I could tell you what he told me, he doesn't want to relive it again." 

The collective roar of outrage from the bar caused everyone nearby to scatter. It sounded like a nest of dragons preparing to rain hellfire on those who dared harm their young. 


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think there's any warnings to give a heads up about this time. Save that a curveball got thrown that I didn't see coming. I was PLANNING on revealing that plot twist later, but impatient boys are impatient. I can work with it though, I have contingencies because I've had characters pull this bullshit before.

White. Everything was white this time. 

Or was it again? He had been here before, hadn't he? 

"Oh. You're new." 

There were flowers at his feet now. Yellow and white and shaped like trumpets. Lilies? What were lilies doing here? 

"They're mine. Minerva asked me to help you. Apparently you're suffering from some pretty bad mako poisoning. Lilies are something that just pops up around here because it's… I guess you could say this is my center of power? There's another girl, a friend of mine, who has roses as her symbol. Don't tell anyone though, it's dangerous for people to know about people like us. Dangerous for us that is, though they know about me, so I try to keep them from looking too hard at the others. So long as they think I'm the Last, we have a safety net."

Last? Last what? Who are you? 

Pink and white, surrounded by yellow and white lilies, giggles. "Sorry, sorry. My name's Aerith. Nice to meet you, Cloud." 

Aerith. Zack's girlfriend? Did they manage to make it to her then? 

"You mean, Zack's alive? He's… He's been trying to come back? To me?" 

* * *

  
  
  


Cloud blinked, the white vanishing to be replaced by an unfamiliar room. Fight or flight would have kicked in, had there not been a table surrounded by people eating a meal together right in his line of vision. 

One of those people was Zack. 

Another was Tifa. 

They were both alive. ( ~~He hadn't broken his promise to Tifa.~~ ) 

"Spikey! Bout time you woke up!" 

"Za- Ack! Gerroff, you're crushing my ribs!" 

"Sorry, I just… I was worried you would never wake up, you had a really bad case of mako poisoning. Not that I doubted you, but I know I'm not the best nurse, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep you healthy enough to find your way back," Zack admitted, still hugging Cloud after leaping clear across the room to tackle hug him. Cloud just let out a long suffering sigh and pat the overgrown puppy on the head. 

"I think I'll be okay now. Pretty sure the worst is passed, but didn't you have someone waiting for you? How much longer are you going to keep Aerith waiting?" 

Zack's head shot up from where it had been tucked under Cloud's chin (and that was only possible because Cloud was sitting on a lumpy old couch while Zack knelt on the floor in front of him), and if Cloud hadn't been expecting that, there would have been a painful collision. As it was, Cloud barely managed to avoid having Zack's cranium making friends with his jaw. 

"You heard that? Even though I know I only told you her name while you were deep in mako poisoning, you heard that?" 

Cloud frowned. Had he? No. It had been a woman's voice who told him of the Wolf's Lily. Not the Voice that told him to give Zack the Phoenix Down, but a different one. Faded and sorrowful, but proud and warm.

"It was someone. A woman. When I was lost in the green. She said you have her blessing, and her Lily's adopted mother better respect that." 

Zack was looking at Cloud with fear and worry. The blond felt like shrinking away before Zack rounded on the others in the room and growled, "That does not leave this room, you hear me. If I find out people outside this room know about Cloud's _connection_ who don't also have that gift, I will be showing no mercy. Clear?" 

A big black man with a gun for an arm stood up to demand, "Why the hell you threatening my team?" 

"Because either Cloud's a descendant of Cetra who just had things click, or the Planet itself decided it likes him enough to make no difference and form a connection with him anyway. And I'm one of the few the small community of Cetra here in Midgar trusts to know they exist without sharing their gifts. I _will_ kill to protect them. That's something I resolved to do even before I left Shinra. And I would have deserted to keep them safe. My girlfriend and her people are more important than any misguided loyalty to a corporation."

**WOW, ZACK, CLOUD, just steamroll over some plans and have the plot jump forward why don't you? Good thing I've accounted for that and had a few ways things could go from here already thought up.**

**See, I'm not really the boss here. The characters are. I just try to keep these cats I'm herding from going too crazy.**

**Though now I have to backtrack a bit next chapter. Clearly things happened before Cloud woke up, and we need to know.**


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think there's any warnings here either...

**Hmmm… Can you all see the stylistic pattern forming?**

Focus. He needed to focus. Panic won't do Cloud any good, he needed to focus if he wanted to figure out how to help. 

Maybe Spike pushed himself too hard out of worry earlier?

And there's the guilt. Focus, Zack, deal with that later, help Cloud now. 

"Bath is ready! You sure you don't want help?" Biggs asked. Zack glanced over and shook his head. 

"No, I got this. Cloud's a pretty private person, don't want him being mortified when he wakes up because strangers saw him naked." 

Biggs nodded, solemn, but let Zack take the lead in caring for his comatose buddy. Because Cloud had slipped back into his coma.

(Zack was making a point not to look into anyone's eyes. He didn't want pity. Cloud would wake up again. Spike was stronger than anyone knew. Only Zack seemed to see that hidden potential, and it was frustrating at times.)

It was two days since he woke up in the basement of an AVALANCHE base. That had been a shock to find out, but this incarnation was different. Still extreme, but far kinder. At least they were disgusted by the stories Zack told of the previous incarnation. Gave him hope that these guys might actually be able to make a difference. 

And Cloud had been unresponsive that entire time. Sometimes Zack wished he HADN'T rejected that offer, but, really, it was easier to be a protector if he wasn't caught up as part of the web. Still, it would be easier to help Cloud with this mako poisoning if he could do more than care for Cloud's bodily needs. 

Tifa wasn't handling Cloud falling back into a coma well. The blond better wake up soon, Zack didn't want to have to draw unwanted attention to the Cetra by asking them for help, but he would if he felt it necessary. He'd just have to make sure no one found out who couldn't be trusted. And take care of those who did. 

He hated killing, no matter how many times he had to kill to protect. 

**Ah, okay, so that's what happened.**

**Hey, I'm just the writer these guys are dictating their story to, I know the outline of the plot, but they tell me how it fleshes out. But, damn, Zack, you are scary when you're protective. Papa Wolf much?**


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings in author's note at the top.
> 
> Also, world's clash in three... two...

***waves* Hi, everyone, finally got frustrated enough at not writing to override the frustration of using my phone to write, so update time.**

**Warnings: implied past suicide (from when Zack fought people as a SOLDIER and they chose to take their own life instead of being captured), casual mentions of torture (no details, just that it's a thing that happens because Shinra)**

**And probably warning for minor anxiety because Zack is being a mother hen who's beginning to have it dawn that the baby chikabo he took under his wing is actually a dragon and said dragon has absolutely no idea how his newly enhanced body works.**

**That's gonna be a problem. (After all, Zack's alive, Cloud didn't download his memories via desperation and accidentally tapping into the Jenova connection in this timeline.)**

_ Clunk _ . 

"Shit." 

Zack frowned from where he was standing as Cloud struggled with tying his boots. (No he was  _ not _ hovering, he's just making sure he'd be available if Cloud wanted help since fine motor control still seemed to be difficult for him. That's Zack's story and he's sticking to it.) 

"Everything alright?" he asked Tifa who was now looking like she was keeping herself from kicking the controls to the elevator. The martial artist deflated and sighed. 

"Elevator's busted," she replied in a resigned tone, the "again" unsaid but still heard. "Come on, we'll head through the cellar." 

"Guess it's not a good idea to use a secret entrance like that when the bar's full anyway, huh? Why have it?" Zack wondered, partly to make conversation, partly out of genuine curiosity. 

Tifa gave both him and Cloud a once over (Cloud had given up trying to tie his boots properly and just made a huge knot that would probably need to be cut to undo) and replied, "Easier to bring injured down here for medical attention and recovery if we don't need to worry about stairs." 

And didn't that paint an ugly picture. Then again, they were fighting Shinra. And Shinra only takes prisoners if they're going to torture them. (No wonder people who he'd fought as a SOLDIER preferred death to capture - to the point of committing suicide if necessary.) 

With that said, Tifa opened up a panel in the wall and gestured Zack and Cloud through. Zack took the lead, Cloud quietly following (save for the stumble that had Zack's heart leap into his throat - he really needed to calm his overprotective instincts before Cloud decides to make him stop, possibly via biting), and Tifa bringing up the rear. He carefully pushed open the panel hiding the exit when he reached it, poking his head out first, seeing a wine cellar before stepping through. Then Zack and Cloud waited for Tifa to show the way again. 

Stepping into the kitchen, Tifa didn't bother with pleasantries and simply called out, "Elevator's busted, call the mechanic," before pulling down pots, pans, and breakfast ingredients. Zack helped Cloud navigate the slightly cluttered kitchen (which he grumpily accepted since he still wasn't too steady on his feet) and sat down at the counter. 

"Doing okay you two?" Biggs asked from where he was going over a map of some sort. (Zack didn't know what, but he figured he'd be asked for advice later if it was a Shinra facility.) 

"Fine," Cloud snapped, the first word he'd spoken all morning, making Zack wince. Yeah, best tread lightly, Spikey being frustrated is a very good way to wind up getting your ass handed to you when he finally has enough and gets angry. Even unenhanced, he had not been someone to successfully anger lightly. (After all, being able to block a Raven's sword strike so Shotgun could finish him off is no easy feat. And that's not even touching on Cloud defeating  _ Sephiroth  _ of all people.) 

Biggs raised a brow, but didn't push. He did glance at Zack to be sure, and judging by the slight widening of his eyes, picked up on Zack's caution.

(No, he was not nervous, thank you. Understandably cautious because Cloud's enhanced now, recovering from his mako poisoning, and hasn't had the chance to adjust to his increased everything, which is just a mess waiting to happen since there's no safe room to put him in if sensory overload hits before he has a way to focus it. Zack was not nervous at all about suddenly realizing that someone who, upon looking through the lens of hindsight, seems to have berserker tendencies is now enhanced to the level of a First Class with  _ zero _ training on how to handle his enhancements. Zack has absolutely no reason to be running scenarios through his head on the best ways to restrain his buddy if he snaps from frustration and anger until he's back to himself.

And, yes, Zack's lying through his teeth to himself, but at least he's acknowledging that in the privacy of his own head.) 

"Mechanic will be here in five," Barret announced, coming in from the back. (When did he get there? Must be a back entrance Zack didn't notice, is this bar secretly a Mu warren or something?) 

"That's fast," Zack found himself saying. 

"Said he was in the area," Barret shrugged. The gunman was still pretty cool towards Zack, but at least he wasn't outright hostile. Zack was pretty sure he had Tifa to thank for that. (Just as he was sure Cloud would  _ not  _ be thanking Tifa for how Barret was overprotective of Cloud in his own way. Usually by picking him up to put him on a chair or something because, "Your slow ass is in my way, better to just move you where you're headed." 

Cloud isn't fooled any time that's happened, and Zack's waiting for Barret to wind up bitten. Cloud fights  _ dirty _ when he's outmatched and without a weapon after all.) 

"Yusei or Bruno?" Tifa asked. 

"Yusei. Was picking up a delivery for the Leaf House with that bike of his, it ain't time sensitive, so he'll swing by on the way out." 

Zack, however, had one question, "This Yusei wouldn't happen to be a half-Wutian with blue eyes and the last name of Fudo would he?" 

***headdesk repeatedly* IT'S A GOOD THING I MAKE A POINT TO PLAN FOR THE CHARACTERS BEING IMPATIENT! Then again, when bouncing this idea off a fellow author to help get it to start forming properly, I had said I wasn't sure if the crossover would happen in 5 chapters or 20. Looks like it's 5 (if you don't count the prologue, six if you do.)**


End file.
